Building a new 45,000 square-foot combination office and clean room building was a leap of faith that has paid off for the
Heath-Newark-Licking County Port Authority.
On July 13, the authority dedicated the building while the building's first tenant -- Goodrich Corp. -- cut the ribbon.
In fact, the port authority had Goodrich in mind when it decided in in October 2009 to authorize architectural and engineering work for the building -- all on spec, says Rick Platt, the port authority's president and CEO.
The port authority was created in 1995 to take over ownership of the Newark Air Force Base after it turned up on the base closure list. Since then, the authority has served as property owner and landlord to 17 contractors and subcontractors focused on guidance systems and metrology at the 350-acre
Central Ohio Aerospace and Technology Center.
"Goodrich," says Platt, "came as a subcontractor, and they've been growing over the years. At one point they were in 15 different places on our campus. We knew we needed to do something to get them consolidated and get them into modern office space." Otherwise, he says, "we would have lost them."
While Goodrich had not yet agreed to a lease, the port authority proceeded with the new building -- dubbed the Horton Building -- just the same. The gamble paid off: Goodrich moved into the building's first floor one year to the day after construction started.
Remaining portions of the building are available for additional tenants, including a new 1,000-square-foot Class 10,000 clean room to go with the 250,000 square feet of clean room space now leased to Boeing. Platt says the new facility is the only clean room space available in central Ohio.
"It's a pretty narrow niche, but if you need it it's pretty hard to get."
Source: Rick Platt, Heath-Newark-Licking County Port Authority
Writer: Gene Monteith